NPR Headlines

A federal grand jury in Atlanta on Wednesday became the latest to indict two Iranian nationals on charges of creating and deploying the "SamSam" ransomware that attacked vital city computer systems earlier this year in an attempt to extort tens of thousands of dollars from the local government.

Updated at 10:10 p.m. ET

A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor has been charged with capital murder and, if convicted, could get the death penalty in the deaths of four women in September in Texas. Authorities say he confessed to the killings.

For Seth Roberts and other residents of Paradise, Calif., Wednesday marked a sad homecoming.

"I'm in my backyard and it's all gone," Roberts told NPR. "My house is gone, my shop's gone, my sheds are gone. ... Nothing left, just a bunch of charred stuff."

Updated at 7:55 p.m. ET Friday

The Marine Corps has identified the fighter pilot who died in a crash that occurred while practicing in-flight refueling off the coast of Japan. He was Capt. Jahmar Resilard, 28, of Miramar, Fla.

Another service member was rescued and five are still missing.

The Marine Corps said Resilard served with Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242, stationed on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi, Japan, according to the Associated Press.

North Korea appears to be expanding a missile base in a remote, mountainous part of the country, according to new commercial satellite imagery studied by independent researchers.

The base, located near the Chinese border, is believed to be capable of housing long-range missiles that could, in theory, hit the United States. Researchers say they see clear signs that the base is being upgraded.

As climate negotiators from around the world meet in Poland this week and next to figure out how to keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, they are hearing some discouraging news: Emissions of the biggest pollutant, carbon dioxide, are going up.

For three years — 2014 through 2016 — the amount of atmospheric CO2 had leveled off. But it started to climb again in 2017, and is still rising.

"Last year, we thought, was a blip — but it isn't," says Rob Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University in California.

Italy's highest court has ruled that the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles must hand over an ancient Greek statue that was first discovered by Italian fisherman.

The Getty Museum argues that since the statue is Greek, not Italian, it "is not and has never been part of Italy's cultural heritage." The museum says it believes the court order violates U.S. and international law, and that it plans to "continue to defend our legal right to the statue."

Updated at 5:58 p.m. ET

USA Gymnastics, the sport's national governing body, said today that it had voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Unrest continues this week on the campus of North Carolina's flagship university after university leaders proposed a new, $5 million building to display the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam. The monument stood at the entrance to UNC campus until protesters tore it down in August.